SCATICO BLOG
Scatico March Madness 2022
It’s March, which means it’s time for (drumroll please) the THIRD ANNUAL SCATICO MARCH MADNESS! This year we’ve got all kinds of beloved camp activities going head-to-head in 4 tough brackets: Evening Activities; Specialty Programming; Full Camp Events; Color War Events!
TOURNAMENT PROGRESS
View Scaticonians’ Completed Brackets Here!
Daniel Kovacs
Kerri + Tyler Winderman
Ryan Derasse
Maya Ziff
Sylvie Eichel
Lolli Kahn
Chase Baruch
Skylar Baruch
Ezra Elkin
Ruby Elkin
Nicki Fleischner
David Fleischner
Mark Gretenstein
Carly Hodes
Lilly Jacobs
Parker Percival
Ryan Percival
Marlon Reitzes
Sam Ryan
Diana Wallerstein
Cooper Jacobs
Patti Press
Jake Zirolli
Joey Smilgiewicz
Ella Bernstein
Gracie + Jordan Klein
Eliza Tarlow
Eve Jacobs
Olivia Berk
Jackson Tarlow
Maya Lederman
Sophie Rosen
Noa Newman
Kylie Yurdin
Letter from Cory
Dear Scatico Families,
As we look to the summer ahead and eagerly plan for the 101st season of Scatico, we want to share an important message from Cory, who will be transitioning from his role as head counselor this summer.
As Cory writes:
This is not easy for me to say, and I have gone through so many iterations of this message in my head and on paper, but I think the best way to do it is to come out and rip the band aid. I will not be returning to camp as the boys head counselor. I’ll be a head counselor for two this summer with Bash and Peyton, my children, as my division. While I will not be the boys head counselor, I am working out a role with Dave and Diana that will allow me to spend time at camp and to continue to make magic and memories.
Scatico is always home for me and has, in large part, shaped who I am today. It is a place where I was always putting forth my best self. Camp, since my first summer as a sub junior in 1988, helped me learn a lot about who I was and what is important to me. That happens when you have support, role models and friends who truly care about you. Scatico is a place where all those things were available to me and I took full advantage. I hope that in my time as Head of Boys side, the campers all felt they were given the opportunity to feel at home as I always have. It is all I ever wanted for all of your kids. To be heard, to be cared for, to be seen, and to know that no matter what they wanted for themselves, we were going to get them there. I have so many memories of every camper being their best selves and I feel lucky to have witnessed it and shared in it all.
There is just so much more I am feeling but for now this will have to do. To all the camp families - to everyone - it has been the pleasure of my life to experience this with all of your children. To all the Scatico campers and counselors through time that have shared in the magic - wow, are we so lucky! Thank you for being the pulse that keeps it all beating.
To new beginnings.
”We’ve only just begun”…
Love to all,
Cory
We cannot thank Cory enough for his inspiring, thoughtful, and ever-energetic leadership as the boys head counselor since 2016, when he took the role over from David. Cory helped shape Scatico for the better (and, of course, also added Mets equality to the HC Porch). As much as we will miss him in his former role, we are also so excited for him to be able to spend more time with his family and are looking forward to crafting a new, part-time (childcare flexible) position for him. He will remain a familiar face in the 12523!
We’re also excited to share that Mark, who has been at Scatico since 2018 and was the boys program director last summer, will become the new head counselor. Mark will have support from long-time Scaticonians Randy and Ken as well as Quinn Croland, Matty Carroll and Alan O’Neill, the three of whom are enthusiastically planning their returns to camp in new leadership roles after a year (or a few) away. And the dynamic duo of Kerri and Dusty will still be found in the girls HC! At Scatico, we are always tremendously appreciative of our longstanding senior leadership team.
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season,
David, Diana and Nicki
6/24- Scatico Staff Campfire
Hello Scatico Staff
It is my great honor to be opening our orientation campfire.
I am going to share a few thoughts with you, then Laura will be doing a land acknowledgement we hope will become part of our campfire tradition moving forward. And so, I would like talk about acknowledgement in a more general sense.
I want to acknowledge that on a normal year orientation is difficult. Many people come together, some who know one another, and some who do not, and must in a very short time become a cohesive community. It is an imperfect process, and will remain an imperfect process. I want to acknowledge that we are not perfect. But, I also want to acknowledge that we are good. I see so much goodness in this circle and I am excited for the children that are coming in less than 48 hours because I am very proud of the team we have built. Reach out to your teammates in the days ahead, and be there for one another.
I want to acknowledge our purpose for gathering. 22 years ago, I sat at one of these campfires and David Fleischner stood up and said that ‘the work I was about to do would be the most important work of my life.’ I was much younger. So, it was a great surprise to me that David was right. Working with kids is the most important work I have found, and I want to acknowledge that all the work we’ve done this week, and we’ve done some hard work, is for that purpose, the purpose of providing for children a place to connect with nature, themselves, and each other. And if we do that right, we will have a great summer.
Like many camp events this campfire will have its moments of solemnity and its moments of fun and play. This is the complex art of camp life.
During the summer of 2019, Cory Schwartz gave a speech at the first sermon on boyside. It was our 99th summer and Cory was aware that our minds might drift to summer 100 and there is nothing Cory hates more than having a summer be taken for granted. So, he inspired us to call summer 99 ‘the Great One’ not knowing the events that were to come. Summer 2019 was the best summer of my life and I want to acknowledge Cory for his leadership and wisdom.
As we look ahead at a most unexpected set of circumstances for Camp Scatico’s 100th summer I see a challenge much like Cory faced 2 years ago. But instead of the distraction coming from the future, our challenge comes to us from the past. We must decide to craft a new legend, and to face the open canvas of a summer we know will be like no other. I see a great adventure ahead and I really cannot imagine a better set of people to go on this journey with.
I want to acknowledge the Fleischner family and their efforts to move the arc of history a bit more toward justice. I want to acknowledge the heroic effort this week and the week’s leading up to this moment by Nicki Fleischner. I hope you have a day off on the schedule. And lastly, if you are a first-year counselor let us all acknowledge that the first year is harder for you, and there is no way around that. But, I also want you to know that you are needed, wanted, and celebrated in our hearts every day.
Now, my partner from Arts and Crafts Laura will share our land acknowledgement.
Scatico March Madness 2021
We’re back with the second annual Scatico March Madness! Get the bracket, find out how to participate, and catch some analysis from the 18s…
We’re back with the second annual Scatico March Madness. This year we’ve got some old favorites (full camp activities) as well as three new regions: Locations, Meals, and Songs!!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Print out the below bracket and manually fill it out, or fill it out digitally! Don’t forget to add your name and year of your first summer!
Send your completed bracket to nicki@scatico.com or DM it to @campscatico_official.
Get ready to V-O-T-E! Voting will start over the weekend!
And now (not to sway your vote!!) we’ve got the 2018 Soopers and Upper Seniors with some key info, hot takes, and analysis!
SCATICONIAN BRACKETS
Alex Googel, 2015
Emily Holzer, 2012
Irwin Schwartz + Henry Max, 2015
Kylie Yurdin, 2018
Rachel Trichon, 2009
Scott Yurdin, 1984
Vivi Loigman, 2014
Lucy Chestler, 2006
Dylan Gottfried, 2014
Justin Zucker, 2011
David Fleischner, 1964
Tyler Winderman, 2013
Sammy Wolfin, 2000
Sophie Rosen, 2014
Ruby Harrison, 2019
Julia Metzendorf, 2015
Sam Meltzer, 2015
Leah Moscou, 2018
Jamie Segal, 2007
Bryce Holden, 2007
Matty Carroll, 2008
Nicki Fleischner, 1997
Joey Smilgiewicz, 2000
Noah Wagner, 2013
Diana Wallerstein, 1987
Kerri Winderman, 1981
Georgie Loigman, 2014
Kate Metzendorf, 2012
Karlie Saed, 2014
Gracie + Jordan Klein, 2016 + 2014
Olive Levine, 2017
Lolli Kahn, 1999
Cory Schwartz, 1988
Zach Wayne, 2009
Emma Bochner + Ally Zagin, 2006
Emma Miller, 2012
Marly Fass, 2011
Black Lives Matter At Summer Camp
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
Camp Scatico affirms that Black Lives Matter. We are dedicated to the ongoing process of creating a more equitable camp world, in Elizaville and beyond. We are ready to do the work.
As part of this ongoing process, Scatico is grateful to be working with Simone Gamble, a long time camp professional and the founder of OAAARS, an organization that helps businesses find consultants of color committed to work rooted in social justice, equity, and education. OAAARS will help guide us as we work to make Scatico look more like, as the Summer Camp Society puts it, “the world we want our kids to live in”: a place of radical inclusivity, tolerance and kindness; an actively anti-racist and de-colonized space where all children and staff can be the best version of themselves; not a bubble that exists outside the world, but a force — and a future generation— that can change the world for the better.
SOCIAL + RACIAL JUSTICE RESOURCES
PODCASTS + ARTICLES
FOR CAMPERS, PARENTS, ALUMNI + STAFF
THOUGHTS ON BEING BLACK AT CAMP- A blog post from a black, female former head counselor at a YMCA camp.
FOR CAMPERS + PARENTS
SO GET ME: The Alphabet Rockers podcast for families making change!
FOR PARENTS, ALUMNI + STAFF
CODE SWITCH: The fearless conversations about race that you’ve been waiting for!
SOCIAL JUSTICE + CAMP -- TALKING ABOUT IT- An article from 2016, about a camp in Ferguson, but with lessons for this moment.
WEBSITES + ACCOUNTS TO FOLLOW
S’More Melanin (@smoremelanin)
A destination for resources, historic context & connectivity for BIPOC in the camp world.
National Museum of African American History and Culture: Talking About Race Resource Page
EmbraceRace (@embracerace)- Multiracial community of parents, teachers, experts, who support each other to meet the challenges that race poses to our children, families, and communities.
The Conscious Kid- Education, research and policy organization dedicated to reducing bias and promoting positive identity development in youth.
Black Youth Project- A platform that highlights the voices and ideas of Black millennials. Through knowledge, voice, and action, they work to empower and uplift the lived experiences of young Black Americans today.
OAAARS (@oaaars)-A people of the global majority-led consultancy that provides social justice-centered training and education to create safer and inclusive work environments while cultivating change agents in the workplace and beyond.
BOOKS
In an effort to support local bookstores, all of the links lead to purchasing on Bookshop.org.
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation
Resist: 35 Profiles of Ordinary People Who Rose Up Against Tyranny and Injustice
This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work
Recommendations from other members of the Scatico Community
THOUGHTS, IDEAS, OR RECOMMENDATIONS?
This is a collaborative and community-driven process. Let us know your thoughts using the form below. If you have resource recommendations, we will work to update this page.
Camp T-shirt Day!
Calling all Scatico campers, staff, parents and alum, mark your calendars… Tuesday 11/10 is #camptshirtday!! For 10+ years, Camp T-Shirt Day has been a special day for the international camp community to celebrate camp and show some serious camp spirit.
Calling all Scatico campers, staff, parents and alum, mark your calendars… Tuesday 11/10 is #camptshirtday!! For 10+ years, Camp T-Shirt Day has been a special day for the international camp community to celebrate camp and show some serious camp spirit. And this year at Scatico, we’re using it as an opportunity to support two fantastic Columbia County-based non-profits Kite’s Nest and Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood.
Kite’s Nest is a center for liberatory education with the mission to build the collective capacity of young people to bring about personal transformation, social connection, healing, and systemic change. The Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood works to create a chain of support for children and families in the community from cradle through career in order to break through the inter-generational cycle of poverty and help kids' reach their full potential.
How to Participate
Wear your favorite Scatico tee or gear on Tuesday 11/10!
Send a photo via DM to Scatico’s instagram or via email to nicki@scatico.com
For every photo submitted we will donate to these two awesome organizations, because camp spirit is always sweeter when you spread it!!
Special Camp T-Shirt Day Virtual Event
Scatico is also a Community Partner for the 2020 Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jewish Book & Arts Festival, which features a special virtual fireside chat between New York Times bestselling author Iris Krasnow, who wrote Camp Girls: Fireside Lessons in Friendship, Courage and Loyalty, and Micah Hart, host of the podcast, Campfires and Color Wars .
Virtual tickets are $10, and the chat is on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 PM!
Organized by the JCC Houston, the event is also celebrating #camptshirtday and is collecting pictures of participants in their favorite camp t-shirt. You can email pictures to msteinberg@erjcchouston.org.
As the event website writes:
“For most of us 2020 was a summer without traditional camp – the special experiences, friendships and lessons learned at camp stay with those who participate throughout their lives. A nostalgic memoir with a universal message on the importance of long-term friendship for campers and non-campers alike, Camp Girls weaves between the past and present, and the joy of finding your independence as well as your interdependence alongside peers. Krasnow demonstrates that camp is more than a place or a collection of activities: it's where we learn what it means to be human and what it feels like to truly belong to a family - not of blood, but of history, loyalty, and tradition.”
Closing Day Thoughts
The final 24 hours of a typical camp summer are truly jam-packed— with emotions, traditions, the sweaty frustration of packing, tears, and laughs…
The final 24 hours of a typical camp summer are truly jam-packed— with emotions, traditions, the sweaty frustration of packing, tears, and laughs. The banquet, slideshow, closing campfire and burning of the year are four landmark moments, each helping to culminate and celebrate a summer at Scatico. For new campers they are traditions filled with mystery and wonder. The way the boys camp just knows how and when to huddle up after lunch to sing “I Don’t Want to Go Home” in the dining room. The way the girls camp seemingly floats magically from the campfire site to the Clubhouse to set their lit candles across the lake. For older campers these are traditions that mark the passage of time, giving us permission to reminisce and feel nostalgic for a summer that only just ended (while still getting that twinge of excitement for what future summers hold). The sight and feel of an essentially empty bunk, the beds pushed together so campers can have their “final sleepover,” lone water bottles and final sets of clothes the last items on shelves, copies of “Scatico Memories” on otherwise empty cubbies…. that is a snapshot of the final hours. What remains unseen but is felt everywhere is the friendship, the buzz, of a summer spent at camp.
Summer 2020 was a strange and difficult one for many reasons and for people of all ages all over the world. A summer without camp, without our Opening and Closing traditions and all the magic that comes between, was just a small piece in the giant puzzle of 2020 as “the summer without…” Through our fundraising and programming with the DREAM Project in the Dominican Republic, we got a small view of communities faring far worse than our own— where vital resources and programming have become scarce.
We are endlessly grateful for all of the much-needed camp spirit, activity and connection we were able to have in 2020, even amid a global pandemic. From our first virtual activity (the talent/art show in March, which somehow feels like a lifetime ago), through the Scatico podcast, Alma and “I Don’t Want to Go Home” virtual medleys, 10x2 (x2) Community Board, Visit Days, and Opening and Closing Zooms, the Scatico family has shown up. If we managed to pull this much off in 2020, there is no telling what 2021 will bring.
As you can imagine, much of this summer was also spent excitedly planning and dreaming for the future. This past week, our family sat down to hold two different meetings— one focused on the program logistics and safety precautions of next summer (think, new hand washing stations; fun, age-appropriate programming for our 2021 repeat divisions), and another on culture, on the intangibles (think, working on an official Scatico mission statement; new sustainability practices and diversity initiatives.) In a summer filled with calls for equity and social justice we are committed to looking inward and outward, and being part of a global camp community where all children learn to live and work together.
As the days get shorter, nights chillier, and summer fades to fall, our thoughts continue to be with our campers, parents, staff, and alumni. We know the transition of seasons is never easy in the “camp world,” and 2020 will definitely continue to challenge us all. Covid-19 has humbled us and taught us many things, including — as we shared in a full-staff Zoom back in May— that Scatico is a no judgement zone. Whether you’re learning or working remotely, or on the front lines as an essential worker; envisioning your next adventure or eager to stick to your living room, our community is here for you.
We can’t wait to keep sharing all year long, and dreaming of a summer spent under the Elizaville sun. Let the countdown to the 100th continue!
- David, Diana, Nicki and Audrey
P.S. You can check out the final behind the scenes tour, fittingly of the campfire sites and sunset trail, by scrolling to the last video on this page.
Closing Night Divisional Zooms
Schedule and details for Divisional Closing Night Zooms
It is hard to believe it’s already approaching what would have been Closing Day at Camp Scatico. Even in a summer like this one, time continues to fly.
As a way to commemorate the moment and to reconnect with bunkmates we are scheduling Closing Night Zooms for each division led by a Scatico counselor! Check the schedule and find your zoom link below.
Again, these zooms are based on what division campers would have been in 2020. If you’re not sure, click the buttons below to view a bunk list.
CLOSING Night Zoom Schedule
Monday August 10, 5-6 PM
Girls Side: Centers with Lauren Rosh- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87857267012
Boys Side: Inters with Mack Madorsky- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84959699814
Monday August 10, 8-9 PM
Girls Side: Soopers with Sammi Salmirs + Lauren Rosh- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89570951156
Boys Side: Upper Seniors with Jack Heineman- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5940049599
Tuesday August 11, 5-6 PM
Girls Side: Inters with Marlee + Emma Georger- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86240374540
Boys Side: Sub-Juniors with Ben Holzer + Matt Stuttman - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83063495689
Tuesday August 11, 8-9 PM
Girls Side: Seniors with Jamie Rosh- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82821245462
Boys Side: Seniors with Ben Putzer- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82086574646
Wednesday August 12, 5-6PM
Girls Side: Juniors + Jinters with Marlee + Emma Georger- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89789311417
Boys Side: Juniors with Ben Holzer + Matt Stuttman- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83934385879
Wednesday August 12, 8-9 PM
Girls Side: Subs with Rachel Waxenberg- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84955655701
Boys Side: Sub-Seniors with Matt Gross- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82436950225
Thursday August 13, 5-6 PM
Girls Side: Debs with Mackenzie Press- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81846669582
Boys Side: Frosh + Sophs with Chase Madorsky- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84781348855
Escape the Zoom
Hello Scatico Detective, and welcome to Escape the Zoom Scatico Edition. Thanks for virtually joining us!
Hello Scatico Detective, and welcome to Escape the Zoom Scatico Edition. Thanks for virtually joining us! Head Counselors Kerri and Cory are stuck in a boring business Zoom call, and are hoping some campers will save them! Can you solve all the clues to figure out the 11-digit meeting ID to help them escape the Zoom?
First team to join the call will be crowned Scatico’s Chief Detective (a position paid in Holy Cow gift cards).
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:
As you solve clues make sure you look for and keep track of the colored stars (like the one on the right.) You’ll want to remember both the star colors and the numbers in the end.
When you open a new clue make sure you download it, and don’t just view in preview. You will need to download the clues in order to open the hyperlinks in them. Sometime you will need to enter the same clue password twice, once when you open it initially and then again when you download it!
Your end goal is to enter the 11-digit meeting ID and help Kerri and Cory escape the zoom! First person to enter the zoom wins.
If you ever need a clue or some help along the way… just DM @campscatio_offical
After the first several people enter the zoom the game will be done! We will post the 11 digit meeting ID answer, so you can always test your knowledge and try to finish.
Here is your first clue. The password is “ilovescatico.”
Good Luck!
Scatico Night Live- At Home!
Learn all about— and participate— in Scatico Night Live!!
FULL EPISODE- SCATICO NIGHT LIVE (SNL) AT HOME!
Last summer Kate Rosenfeld introduced a girls side media program to Camp Scatico and with it brought a new tradition that we think will be with us for years to come… Scatico Night Live! We knew we couldn’t got a whole summer without the comedy, talent, and creativity of the Scatico community… so we’re launching Scatico Night Live (At Home!). Learn more, submit a form to participate, and watch a teaser video, below.
WHAT IS SCATICO NIGHT LIVE????
SNL is a variety show! It started in 2019 as part of girls side media program, with each division coming up with a comedy segment. Some skits/performances were live and others were pre-recorded - just like Scatico Night Live!
So how will SNL at Home work??
SNL at Home will include recorded skits/ segments from any member of the Scatico family - boys side, girls side, alumni, etc!
What kind of skits should we send in?
The skits can be pretty much anything you want - parody music videos, fake commercials, sketches about days/activities at camp. Get creative! The only requirements are that they are camp related and also camp appropriate.
What does camp appropriate mean?
No cursing, no making fun of specific camp people in a negative way, etc. if you wouldn’t be comfortable showing it in front of the whole camp in person, then it probably isn’t appropriate for SNL.
How does my idea become a skit?
Below is a form where you can fill out who you are, what your skit will be and when you’ll be able to film it by! This way we can make sure all skits are appropriate and we have a good variety represented!. Once we’ve read your form, we will send you the go-ahead and you can begin making the skit!!!
When’s the deadline?
Last day to submit your ideas is July 9th and the last day to send in your skits is July 16th!!
How long should they be?
Anywhere between one to five minutes!
Who should I do this with?
You can do this on your own, with your division mates, your siblings, etc. Whoever you want!!
Have lots of fun!!!!! We can’t wait to see what you come up with!